Rack for newspapers and magazines



May 25, 1954 c. J. KOEFERL 2,679,321

RACK FOR NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES Filed June 5, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l 16' F INVENTOR lemenz JJYaeferZ WITNESS 44-15% waom ATTORNEY May 25, 1954 INVENTOR. Clemenzlflefpl ATTORNEY Patented May 25, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RACK FOR NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES Clement J. Koeferl, Dover, N. J.

Application June 5, 1950, Serial No. 166,253

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to supports or racks, and more particularly to supports or racks for accumulating, stacking, and bundling newspapers and magazines. and has for one of its primary objects the provision of an improved and simplified device of this character.

For many years housewives have been confronted with the problem of What to do with used newspapers and magazines, and very often the used newspapers and magazines have been thrown in a corner of the cellar or back porch. This means of storing used newspapers and magazines has not only resulted in an unsightly pile, but has also created a real fire hazard that in numbers of cases have resulted in the destruction of the homes where the newspapers were improperly stored. Thus, one other important object of the present invention is to provide a new article of manufacture which will make it easy for a housewife to systematically and neat- 1y accumulate, stack and bundle used newspapers and magazines as they are discarded.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved article of manufacture that will be inexpensive and which will also be serviceable and useful to the housewife and other users.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a rack for newspapers and/or magazines of generally improved construction, whereby, the device will be simple, durable and inexpensive in construction, as well as convenient, practical, serviceable and efiicient in its uses.

Other important objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claim.

For a more complete understanding of this invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a perspective View of a first preferred type of support or rack embodying my invention Figure 2 is a reduced scale side elevational view of the rack or support illustrated in Figure 1 and showing how the rack or support may be opened for convenient bundling;

Figure 3 is a side elevational view of a modified form of the invention showing a rack or support for magazines and newspapers, dotted portions thereof indicating the manner in which the sides of the rack may be dropped to facilitate bundling, and removal of the bundled news-. papers and magazines, and

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3, the cords and magazines having been removed.

Referring to the drawings, this invention is shown in one form in Figures 1 and 2 as applied to a rack or support for accumulating, storing, and bundling newspapers or magazines, in which numeral ID in a general way indicates a bottom panel, numeral l2 indicates a front panel, numeral !3 indicates a rear panel, and numeral M a top connector bar. The bottom panel I0 is constructed from a pair of spaced base members or runners lE-i6, of which the lower portions are slightly beveled. The front ends of the runners l6 and [6' are connected by a superimposed spanner member H and the rear ends of the runners are connected by a spanner ii. The right ends (Figure l) of the spanners |1--ll' are connected by a connector member I8 and the left ends of the spanners are connected by a connector member it. that the connector members is and I8 rest directly upon and are secured by unshown means to the tops of the hereinbefore described runners l6 and i6 respectively. The spanner members l1 and l? in addition to being connected by the connector members 18 and H! are joined by a plurality, in this case three, of equally spaced horizontally extending dowel sticks I9. As shown, the ends of the dowel sticks are positioned in holes 2| that extend through the connector members l7l1'. However, it will be understood that the holes 2! do not necessarily have to extend through the connector members I1 and H.

The top face of the front connector member l? is cut away as at 22-22 and thereby accommodates the lower leaf of a pair of hinges 2323, which are secured to the spanner members I l by wood screws, one of which is shown at 24. The upper leaf of each of the hinges is secured by a plurality of wood screws, of which one is shown at 26, to the lower face of a bottom bar 2'! of the front panel [2. A corner post 28 is secured to and extends upwardly from each end of the bottom bar 21, and the upper ends of the two corner posts are joined by a horizontally extending top bar 25. lhe bottom bar 21 and the top bar 29, in addition to being joined by the two corner posts 28-28, are connected by a plurality, in this case three, of vertically extending dowel sticks 3l-3|3l. sticks 3! are positioned in holes 30 formed in the bottom and top bars 21 and 29 respectively. Reference to the drawings shows that the front panel I2 is made up of the bottom bar 21, the two corner posts 28-28, the top bar 29, and the three vertical dowel sticks 3l3i-3l.

The rear panel 53 is an exact duplicate of the front panel 12, and comprises a rear bottom bar 21, a pair of upstanding corner posts 28'- 28, a rear top bar 29', and a plurality of dowel sticks 3!. The rear panel i3 is hinged to the rear spanner IT by a pair of rear hinges 23- 23, that are duplicates of, and are installed in the same manner as the front hinges 2323.

The rear top bar 29' is connected to the front top bar 29 by the top connector I 3, hereinbefore mentioned. The rear end of the top con- It will be understood,

The ends of the dowel nector bar I4 is hinged to the longitudinal center of the top bar 29 by a hinge 32, which is held to the center of the bar 29 and to the end of the connector by a plurality of wood screws 33. The front end of the connector bar 14 is releasably held to the center of the front top bar 29 by a latch 34, pivoted to the center of the front bar 29 by a screw 33. The tree end of the latch 35 is provided with a notch 31 that is devised to engage a keeper 38, which, as shown, is in the form of a wood screw driven intothe iront end of the connector l4.

When the rack of this invention is being used to accumulate discarded papers and magazines, a length of string or cord 39, comprising a bight portion 4| and two end portions 42 and 42', is placed as shown in the drawings. In other words, the end 42 of the cord 39 is placed over the top of the front top bar 29. The bight 4! of the cord 39 is placed down inside the rack as best seen in Figure 1, and the other end 42' of the cord 39 is placed over the rear top bar 29.

As best seen in Figure 1, the top connector bar 14 has notches 44-44, at points near both of its ends, and these notches engage the top bars 29 and 29, thus adding to the rigidity of the rack.

The rack of this invention is used in the following manner. The cord 39 is placed as shown with the bight 4| extending all the way to the bottom of the rack. If desired, the ends 42-42 of the cord may be tied or otherwise secured to the top bar member 29 and 29. With the rack empty the top connector bar I4 is secured to the front top bar 29 by means of the latch. 34 and keeper 38. Then, as the newspapers and/ or magazines are discarded, they are placed in the rack so that the cord 39 will extend below and on both sides thereof. When enough of the papers have been accumulated to form a proper size bundle the ends 42-42 of the cord 39 are brought together as at 46 (Figure 2) and tied into a knot as shown. Then the latch 34 is uncoupled, the top connector l4 hinged upwardly, and the front and rear side panels I2 and I3 hinged downwardly as shown in Figure 2. This permits for easy and safe removal of the now securely tied bundle of papers, the bundle being designated in Figure 2, by the numeral 41.

Figures 3 and 4 of the drawings show a second preferred embodiment of the invention, which has many details, duplicated from the rack shown in Figures 1 and 2. The rack of Figures 3 and 4 is devised for the separate accumulation of newspapers and magazines. The parts of the rack shown in Figures 3 and 4 which are duplicates of parts shown in Figures 1 and 2 are designated by numerals less than I00, and these parts will not be redescribed in complete detail. On the other hand the parts that bear numbers above I09 are specific to the rack shown in Figures 3 and 4. The main difference between the double rack of Figures 3 and 4 and the single rack of Figures 1 and 2, resides in the fact that in Figures 3 and 4 the runners H6, the bottom connector members ll9| l8, and the dowel sticks 6 I I 9, are extended to accommodate installation of a central fixed panel designated generally by the numeral I50. The fixed panel 150 is a duplicate of the hinged panels 12 and I3, except that the fixed panel is not hinged, but is secured to the bottom connector members H8 by a pair of T- straps |l-!5|' that are held to the bottom connector H8 and to the post I28 of the panel 150 by a plurality of screws I52. It will of course be understood that the double rack has two top con- 4 nector bars |4l4, two sets of hinges 3232, two latches 3434, and two keepers 38-38.

While the drawings only illustrate two types of racks for accumulating, storing and bundling newspapers and magazines, it will be appreciated that other types of racks are possible of construction. For example, a very convenient single rack may be made from the double rack shown in Figures 3 and 4 by omitting one side of the double rack, This would result in a single rack havingone fixed side and one hinged side. In addition to this two or even three cords 39 may be used, the ends of the cords being secured to spaced portions of the top bars 29 and 29. Other variations in the construction of racks are contemplated and may be made within the scope of this invention without avoiding the appended claim.

What I claim and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

A rack for accumulating, stacking, and bundling newspapers or magazines comprising a bottom panel formed. from a pair of runners, a pair of spanners connecting said runners, and a pair of connector members connecting Said spanners, said connector members resting on said runners, and a plurality of dowel sticks extending between the said spanners; a pair of parallel upstanding side panels, each side panel having a bottom bar, a pair of upstanding corner posts, a top bar connecting the upper ends of said corner posts, and a plurality of dowel sticks connecting said bottom bar with said top bar; leaf-hinges each comprising, a first leaf secured to one of said spanner-s 5' and a second leaf secured to one of said bottom bars and a pivot pin connecting the first and second leafs of each of said hinges, the said pivot pin connection being located adjacent to the side of the bottom bar which is remote from the side of the bottom bar which is adjacent to the other bottom bar, thereby providing a pair of upstanding side panels which hinge outwardly but not inwardly; a long slim connecting bar of which the longitudinal dimension is substantially equal to one of the dimensions of the bottom panel and of which the longitudinal dimension is at least eight times any cross sectional dimension there of, said long slim connector bar having both ends notched and having one end hinged to one of said top bars; a latch and keeper for releasably connecting the other end of said top connector bar to the other of said top bars; said top bars being adapted to support opposite ends of cord means bars adjacent to said long slim connector bar, thereby affording a means for bundling said newspapers or magazines.

References Cited in the file of thi patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 287,750 Worthen Oct. 30, 1883 354,846 Walker Dec. 21, 1886 732,037 Best June 30, 1903 759,202 Thomas May 3, 1904 921,453 .Pilon May 11, 1909 1,246,923 Horrigan Nov. 20, 1917 1,281,254 Smith Oct. 8, 1918 1,296,830 Marsh Mar. 11, 1919 1,451,449 Peterman Apr. 10, 1923 1,720,449 Seligman July 9, 1929 1,743,832 Seligman Jan. 14, 1930 1,936,814 Wetta Nov. 28, 1933 2,155,742 Swanson et a1 Apr. 25, 1939 2,321,802 Deubener June 15, 1943 2,469,911 Applegate May 10, 1949 

